Roswell DUI Attorney

Understanding Field Sobriety Tests

The field sobriety test often administered at the side of the road when you are pulled over is not mandatory, unlike the state mandated urine, blood and breath tests that takes place at the police station or hospital. Often, the arresting officer will request a chemical blood, breath, or urine test after you have refused a field sobriety test. Over time, the accuracy of field sobriety test has come into question. The evidence gained from a field sobriety test can often be heavily compromised. These tests are even difficult for a sober person to execute perfectly and are often designed to cause you to fail in order to build a case for the prosecution.

The methods used to score the field sobriety test are subjective and the results can and have been misinterpreted.  The likelihood that the test may be misinterpreted further indicates why it may be a bad choice to participate in the in field sobriety testing.  The officer who has pulled you over for suspicion of DUI wants to present evidence that supports his or her claim that you were in fact under the influence while operating a vehicle and the field sobriety test helps the officer do this.

Legal Assistance for Failed Field Sobriety Tests

Attorney Richard S. Lawson has been trained under the same program as the police officers that suspect you are driving under the influence. He has been certified by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a field sobriety instructor for the past 10 years. This knowledge of the way field sobriety tests should be administered allows him to identify flaws in the way an officer administered or scored your test. For example, the test that is the most accurate way to test for intoxication is only correct 77% of the time. If you have been subjected to a field sobriety test and were subsequently arrested, contact an Alpharetta DUI lawyer.

If are pulled over based on what an officer observed to be "probable cause" and refuse to take a field sobriety test, you are still required to take a chemical test. If you refuse to take the official state administered test you will almost always have your license suspended for a year. If you are, however, at a checkpoint, meaning you have not been pulled over for suspected intoxication, law officers do not need to have "probable cause." They may ask you to submit to a field sobriety test to build a case against you. If you have submitted to these tests as a part of a DUI arrest, it is important that you contact the Law Offices of Richard S. Lawson to protect your rights.

Contact a Roswell DUI Defense Lawyer from our firm today if you have been arrested for DUI and part of the process included field sobriety testing.